The Nightmare Family’s Nightmare
Malakai Black continued his dominant run through the Nightmare Family picking up a victory over Dustin Rhodes. It was another completive match for Black, with Dustin playing the old school veteran showing the younger wrestler that he can still hang with him in the ring.
There was a moment in the match where Black would introduce the shoe of Cody Rhodes from the angle where he attacked Cody after their match. It was also later announced in the show that rematch between Cody and Malakai will take place at Arthur Ashe in two weeks.
The match was good although the ending was slightly off, and it continues story of Malakai being a problem for the Rhodes family. It’ll be interesting to see how the match unfolds at AEW Grand Slam and where both Black and Cody go afterwards.
The CM Punk Lovefest
CM Punk came out for a promo where he addressed his match. He thanked Darby Allin and Sting and mentioning how getting back into the ring again is like getting on a bicycle… ‘a violent bicycle.’
Punk talked about the debut of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson and really puts over AEW the company as this great place for professional wrestlers. I enjoy Punk being in this role, almost like a spokesman for a company that shares his ideals and where wrestling fans are heard.
He is interrupted by Taz on commentary. Taz is angry about how Punk has been mentioning Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs in his interviews as potential opponents for him to face. Taz vows to put an end to the lovefest and Punk challenges Starks, Hobbs, and Hook.
Punk ends the segment delivering the ‘beat me if you can, survive if I let you’ line made famous by Taz.
A Powerhouse Performance
The previous segment led into a match between Hobbs and Dante Martin. It was a short match, but there were some cool spots involved, with one involving Hobbs catching a diving Martin and launching him headfirst into the ring post.
Powerhouse Hobbs got the win with a spinebuster. It was a match made to make Hobbs look impressive and give him a strong win as they build towards either a singles match against Punk or a tag team match. Martin was able to show off some more of his high-flying ability.
MJF versus Cincinnati
MJF and Wardlow came out for a promo where MJF absolutely trashed the city of Cincinnati. MJF is gold on the mic and once again he proves it with another classic promo. Not only does he run the city, but also the entire Midwest, the Cincinnati Reds, and skyline chili.
MJF notices Aunt Linda in the crowd, the aunty of Brian Pillman Jr. along with Pillman’s sister. MJF runs them both down which brings out Brian Pillman Jr to stand up to MJF. Pillman defends his family and his city and calls MJF a ‘jerkoff.’
MJF makes it even more personal and brings up Brian’s mother and her issues with substance abuse. Pillman rushes the ring and gets into a fight with MJF but the numbers game with Wardlow is too much. Griff Garrison tries to make the save but is also beatdown.
It was an enjoyable segment and sets up a match between MJF and Pillman at Arthur Ashe. They also teased more descension between MJF and Wardlow and it’s starting to feel like we could be on our way to seeing that match sometime next year.
Ruby Soho’s First Singles Match
Earlier in the show there was an interview with Tony Schiavone and Ruby Soho. It was interrupted by Britt Baker and her friends. Britt told Ruby it would be better to runaway to catering where she has been for the last four years.
The match was Ruby against Jamie Hayter. It was a decent match, but they didn’t click too well to make it a good match, as well there were a few unfortunate botches. Ruby got the win though and continues her path to an eventual match for the Woman’s Title.
Post-match, Britt and friends attack Ruby. Riho tries to make the save but is unsuccessful. This then brings out Kris Statlander to even the odds and the faces overcome the heels to stand tall and set up a six-women’s tag team match for Rampage.
The Breakdown of the Dark Order
It was a fine but short six-man tag match with The Pinnacle (Shaun Spears and FTR) against Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Stu Grayson and John Silver. It served its purpose giving the Pinnacle a strong win while advancing the tension within the Dark Order.
That tension would reach a boiling point post-match when Dark Order members got physical with each other. Tay Conti and Ana Jay came out with a look of disappointment.
Story Time with Adam Cole
Tony Schiavone is in the ring to interview the Elite. Don Callis brags about Kenny being number one on the PWI top wrestlers list. He also mentions how the Bucks are still the best tag team and that their belts were ‘stolen’ from them.
They introduce Adam Cole who comes out to another strong ovation from the crowd. Adam Cole brings up Tony Schiavone’s relationship with Britt Baker and warns him that he will whip his ass if Tony ever looks at Britt in the wrong way.
Adam Cole goes on to cut a great promo talking about his past accolades and putting over the rest of the Elite, although leaving the Good Brothers out of it which could lead to something. Cole announces that next week he will be competing in his first match in AEW and that’s later announced to be against Frankie Kazarian.
Kenny brings up the ending to All Out and says how he hates to be interrupted which is the cue for Bryan Danielson to come out again. Kenny tells the rest of the Elite to leave the ring and he and Danielson come face to face in the ring.
Bryan is short and sweet with his promo mentioning how Kenny says he is the best in the world but isn’t on his level. Bryan says he will kick Omega’s head in. Kenny goes to attack him, but it’s countered into the Yes lock.
The rest of the Elite charge the ring and start attacking Bryan Danielson. Jurassic Express, Christian Cage and Frankie Kazarian hit the ring to even the odds and send the Elite out of the ring. Brandon Cutler is left alone in the middle of the ring and Bryan nails him with the Busakiu Knee.
Other Segments
There was a backstage interview with Tully Blanchard. He calls out Sting and Darby, and it’s announced that next week it’ll be Darby against Shaun Spears.
Pillman and Garrison are recovering backstage and are interrupted by Max Castor and Anthony Bowens. Castor and Pillman will compete in a singles match on Rampage.
There was a video package continuing the feud between Miro and Eddie Kingston and probably setting up a rematch for the TNT Title sometime soon.
Santana & Ortiz put the AEW Tag Team division on warning and it’s looking like they will be turning their attention to going after the Tag Titles.
Ricky Starks and Brian Cage continue their back and forth and another match between the two could be happening soon.
The Main Event
Minoru Suzuki is out for the main event against Jon Moxley but before we can get the crowd singing along to Kaze Ni Nare, Wild Thing hits and cuts it off. The match itself was very hard hitting and while they’ve had a better match in the past, for a match on Dynamite with limited time they were still able to get a lot in. It was a fun main event and hopefully those that are new to seeing Minoru Suzuki, it might send them to some of his more classic matches.
Jon Moxley got the win with the Paradigm Shift. After the match he entered the crowd and celebrated with his hometown audience as Dynamite went off the air.
Overall Thoughts: there was a lot of crammed into these two hours. I thought the opening and the main event were both good matches, although the main event could’ve done with more time. Everything on the show felt like it had a purpose though and continued the story. The MJF promo was beautifully brutal, and Adam Cole felt like a major star during his segment. The tease of Danielson and Omega was great and could be the Full Gear main event. The next big stop will be the Arthur Ashe Dynamite and they’ve also promoted the big rematch between Cody Rhodes and Malakai Black which should be great, as well as the match between MJF against Brian Pillman Jr which will be Pillman’s biggest match thus far in his career.